1916 Rising GPO keys to be auctioned in April

Des O’Sullivan says the GPO keys are being sold in time for the centenary 

Upcoming auctions will feature a number of one-of- a-kind pieces.

Nostalgia is in the air in this 1916 Rising centenary year.

An unusual lot at Fonsie Mealy’s Centenary Sale in Castlecomer, scheduled for April 23, exactly one century on from Easter Sunday 1916, the day before The Rising began, is the keys of the GPO, Dublin.

A one-of-a-kind piece of a different sort comes up at the Lynes and Lynes auction in Carrigtwohill on February 20.

The auction will feature a number of lots from the Cashel Palace Hotel, which has been sold.

Included is the racing painting that has been hanging in the bar for the last 45 years.

A work by Waldron West, it features English and Irish race characters at Cheltenham on Gold Cup day 1950. It is estimated at €5,000-10,000.

An Irish Georgian mahogany longcase clock with engraved brass dial by Fleming, Dublin, from Cashel Palace, is estimated at €3,000-€5,000.

The sale will also feature a Cork Regency card table and an antique military chest.

Viewing will get underway next Wednesday week.

Call to arms at Hunt Museum

Answer the Call is the title of an exhibition of powerful, First World War recruitment posters at the Hunt Museum in Limerick until March 11.

On loan from the National Museums of Northern Ireland, these posters illustrate various aspects of the drive for recruitment between 1914-1918.

In the year of the centenary of The Rising, this is a particularly timely show which is well worth going to see.

* The Lavit Gallery in Cork has nominated a Student of the Year since 1967 from the graduation class at the Crawford College of Art, Cork . Part of the prize is an exhibition at the gallery and this year the decision was made to nominate three artists, Dearbhla Coffey, Pauline Gibbons and Angela Gilmour. The annual Student of the Year exhibition is open at The Lavit Gallery from next Wednesday until February 26. It is sponsored by Parfrey Murphy.